A mitogenomic phylogeny of living primates

Primates, the mammalian order including our own species, comprise 480 species in 78 genera. Thus, they represent the third largest of the 18 orders of eutherian mammals. Although recent phylogenetic studies on primates are increasingly built on molecular datasets, most of these studies have focused...

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Published inPloS one Vol. 8; no. 7; p. e69504
Main Authors Finstermeier, Knut, Zinner, Dietmar, Brameier, Markus, Meyer, Matthias, Kreuz, Eva, Hofreiter, Michael, Roos, Christian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 16.07.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Animal behavior
Animals
Bioinformatics
Datasets
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Divergence
DNA
Estimates
Evolutionary genetics
Gene sequencing
Genera
Genes
Genetics
Genome, Mitochondrial - genetics
Genomes
Genomics
Laboratories
Mitochondria
Monkeys
Monkeys & apes
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Platyrrhini
Primates
Primates - classification
Primates - genetics
Subgroups
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Summary:Primates, the mammalian order including our own species, comprise 480 species in 78 genera. Thus, they represent the third largest of the 18 orders of eutherian mammals. Although recent phylogenetic studies on primates are increasingly built on molecular datasets, most of these studies have focused on taxonomic subgroups within the order. Complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes have proven to be extremely useful in deciphering within-order relationships even up to deep nodes. Using 454 sequencing, we sequenced 32 new complete mt genomes adding 20 previously not represented genera to the phylogenetic reconstruction of the primate tree. With 13 new sequences, the number of complete mt genomes within the parvorder Platyrrhini was widely extended, resulting in a largely resolved branching pattern among New World monkey families. We added 10 new Strepsirrhini mt genomes to the 15 previously available ones, thus almost doubling the number of mt genomes within this clade. Our data allow precise date estimates of all nodes and offer new insights into primate evolution. One major result is a relatively young date for the most recent common ancestor of all living primates which was estimated to 66-69 million years ago, suggesting that the divergence of extant primates started close to the K/T-boundary. Although some relationships remain unclear, the large number of mt genomes used allowed us to reconstruct a robust primate phylogeny which is largely in agreement with previous publications. Finally, we show that mt genomes are a useful tool for resolving primate phylogenetic relationships on various taxonomic levels.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Current address: Institute for Immunology, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Greifswald, Germany
Conceived and designed the experiments: KF MM MH CR. Performed the experiments: KF EK. Analyzed the data: KF DZ MB CR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KF MH CR. Wrote the manuscript: KF DZ MB MM EK MH CR.
Current address: Department of Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
Current address: Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital Leipzig AöR, Leipzig, Germany
Current address: Department of Biology, the University of York, York, UK
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0069504